Easy Children's Songs to Learn on Guitar

Anyone who has taken a guitar lesson or picked up the
instrument knows it’s not necessarily an easy one to play. Many people have dreams of being a rock
star, and with two chords, you can be a rock star for children.

Two chords?
Yes, that’s right. There are
numerous children’s songs with only two chords. While you might want to expand your chord repertoire
eventually to play even more children’s songs, starting with C and G7 is a way
to get jumpstarted.

First, tune your guitar. If you do not know how, visit an online tuner, but you will
have to learn how to use your ear to match the notes you hear from your
computer. In standard tuning, the
strings of the guitar are tuned to E A D G B and e from low to high. Most children’s songs will be played in
standard tuning.

Second, learn a bit about the mechanics of the guitar. The neck of the guitar is divided into
frets; the first fret is by the head of the guitar. Many guitars will have dots placed on the third, fifth,
seventh, ninth, and twelfth frets for reference. For children’s songs, you will likely not need to go above
the third fret. The strings of the
guitar are numbers from high to low, so the thinnest, highest sounding string
is number 1, and the lowest, thickest string is 6.

Now it’s time to learn the two chords for children’s songs. The first is a C chord. Place your index finger on the first
fret of the second string, followed by your middle finger on the second fret of
the fourth string (the third string will be left open). Finally, place your ring finger on the
third fret of the fifth string and strum all the strings except number 6. You just strummed a C chord!

The G7 is related to the C chord and requires only a few
changes. Move your ring finger to
the third fret of string 6, middle finger to the second fret of the fifth
string, and your index finger to the first fret of the first string. Keep in mind each finger stays on the
same fret, but they are now placed on different strings. Strum all six strings, and you’ve
played a G7 chord!

Practice playing these chords for children’s songs and
switching between them; eventually your motor memory will kick in and make
playing the chords easier. Try
playing and humming or singing these children’s songs, each of which starts on
a C chord:

Itsy Bitsy
Spider

Skip to My
Lou

London
Bridge

Mary Had a
Little Lamb

Wheels on
the Bus

Hokey
Pokey

Apples and
Bananas

He’s Got
the Whole World in His Hands

Polly
Wolly Doodle

Do Your
Ears Hang Low?

How Much
is that Doggie in the Window?

If you have difficulty figuring out where to change the
chord, you can find chord charts online that will include the chord changes. Playing children’s songs for your kids
is a great musical activity, and you’ll get to be the rock star you always
wanted to be.